Previous Golden Spikes Award Winners

Projected to be one of the top selections in the 2016 MLB First-Year Player Draft, Kyle Lewis has been a consistent performer at the plate for the Mercer Bears. The outfielder is batting .411 and totaled 64 runs and 64 RBIs during the regular season. The junior leads the Bears in hits (85), home runs (17), walks (61), slugging percentage (.729) and on-base percentage (.545). Lewis was recently named Southern Conference Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.

Named the 2015 SEC Player of the Year, Andrew Benintendi logged 17 home runs, leading him to one of the highest slugging percentages among the semifinalists (.771). He led the Razorbacks in batting average (.415) as of May 18 and his speed on the bases proved beneficial for Arkansas as went 21 for 25 in stolen base attempts.

As of May 23, A.J. Reed had racked up a Southeastern Conference-best 23 home runs and 70 RBIs, good for first and fourth in the country, respectively. His .356 batting average tied for highest in the SEC, and he led the nation in slugging percentage (.761). As a two-way player, he also had the best record in the SEC at 10-2 and recorded 66 strikeouts in 98 innings through 14 starts.

Kris Bryant led the nation in home runs this season with 30, which tied the NCAA single-season record in the BBCOR era. Bryant set the San Diego career record for home runs with 53. In 2013, Bryant was named West Coast Conference Player of the Year and twice took home National Player of the Week honors.

In 2012, Mike Zunino led the Florida offense with a .324 batting average and set a school single-season record with 24 doubles. Entering the SEC tournament, Zunino leads the conference in home runs (15), doubles, total bases (136) and slugging percentage (.657). For the second straight year, Zunino is a finalist for the Johnny Bench Award. In the regular season, he had a .993 fielding percentage and threw out 16 baserunners, good for third in the SEC. Zunino was selected third overall by the Seattle Mariners in the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft.

Trevor Bauer, Collegiate Baseball's National Player of the Year, had a record breaking season in 2011. The Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year set the conference single-season record for strikeouts with 203, eclipsing the previous record (202) set by 2001 GSA winner Mark Prior (Southern California). Bauer went 13-2 for the Bruins, throwing 10 complete games (tied for first in UCLA single-season record history) over 136.2 innings pitched (seventh most in UCLA single-season records history). Bauer is the first GSA finalist from UCLA since Troy Glaus in 1997.

The No. 1 overall selection by the Washington Nationals in the 2010 First-Year Player Draft, Bryce Harper exceeded all expectations during his freshman season at Southern Nevada, belting 31 home runs (CSN single-season record), with 98 RBIs and a .443 average. The Las Vegas native was named 2010 SWAC Player of the Year and First Team SWAC All-Conference. Harper joins Alex Fernandez (Miami Dade CC [JUCO], 1990), Michael Tucker (Longwood [Division II], 1992) and Alex Rodriguez (Westminster Christian High School [Fla.], 1993) as the only non-Division I players selected as GSA finalists in the last 20 years. To date, Fernandez remains the only junior college and non-Division I player to ever win the award.

The consensus top talent available in this year's draft, Stephen Strasburg has been nothing short of dominant for the Aztecs this season. Stephen put himself on the map with a stellar freshman year at San Diego State as the team's closer before being named the New England Collegiate Baseball League's top prospect in summer ball by Baseball America. Moved to the rotation for his sophomore season, Strasburg again turned heads with brilliant performances, such as a 23-strikeout game against Utah. As a junior, he pitched a no-hitter on May 8th against Air Force, a game in which he struck out 17. Flashing a 100 mph fastball and a plus-plus slider, Strasburg hasn't looked back. The 2009 Mountain West Conference Pitcher of the Year has a bright future ahead of him.

All-American Buster Posey has been recognized as the 2008 college baseball player of the year by several groups, including Baseball America and the Brooks Wallace Award Selection Committee. Posey was among the top 10 in seven NCAA individual statistical categories in 2008 with a .463 batting average, 89 runs and 93 RBIs. He collected 119 hits in 257 official trips to the plate, had a .879 slugging percentage, a .566 on-base percentage, and just eight errors in 68 games and 483 chances for a .983 fielding percentage. Posey batted an ACC-leading .479 in 30 ACC games and was the fourth ACC standout to win the conference's hallowed triple crown -- leading the league in average, home runs and RBIs.

A unanimous selection to the 2007 All-America team, Price's 194 strikeouts shattered his school single-season record of 155 set the year before. It is also the second most in a single season in SEC history behind Ben McDonald's 202 in 1989. Price's 11 wins marked a career high, and the number stands as the second most in school history. His strikeout total led the nation while Price's K/9 ranked second (12.8). Price was selected first overall in the 2007 MLB First-Year Player draft.

Lincecum was named the Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year for the second time after 2006 the season. He was named a Collegiate Baseball first-team All-American and became the first Husky ever taken in the first round of the MLB First-Year Player Draft when he was selected by the San Francisco Giants with the 10th pick. Lincecum finished his collegiate career with Husky single-season records for wins (12), strikeouts (199) and career records for wins (30), starts (51), innings (342.0), walks (216), and strikeouts (491). He also owns the Pac-10 record for career strikeouts (491) and finished the 2006 season only three short of a single-season record (202).

Gordon was named a consensus first-team All-American for the second straight year in 2005, and he swept all the major national awards after leading Nebraska to the College World Series. In winning his second Big 12 Player of the Year Award, Gordon hit .372 with 19 homers, 66 RBIs and 23 stolen bases his junior year. The Kansas City Royals selected him second overall in the 2005 MLB First-Year Player Draft, making him the highest selected Husker in 10 years.

Weaver was a dominant pitcher for his whole career at Long Beach State, particularly dominating the Big West Conference his last two years. He was a two-time first-team All-American and co-Big West Pitcher of the Year. He also swept the national awards in 2004, thanks to a remarkable season in which he led the nation with 15 wins and 213 strikeouts and was second with a 1.62 ERA. He left the Dirtbags as the career leader in wins, strikeouts and innings pitched and was drafted 12th overall by the Anaheim Angels.

Weeks tore up the Southern U. record books during his three years in Baton Rouge, setting single-season marks in several different offensive categories. He led the country in hitting in his sophomore and junior seasons, earning All-America honors both times and back-to-back SWAC Player of the Year Awards. His .465 career average is the best in NCAA Division I history. Weeks swept the major college baseball awards after the 2003 season, leading him to be selected second overall by the Milwaukee Brewers.

After being drafted in the 14th round of the 2001 First-Year Player Draft, Greene decided to go back to college and completed a remarkable four-year career at Clemson by leading the nation in hits (134), runs (93), doubles (33) and total bases (250) in 2002. His 95 career doubles are the most ever in NCAA Division I history, and his 403 hits leave him second all-time. He hit .470 as a senior with 27 home runs and 91 RBIs en route to sweeping the major awards before being drafted 13th overall by the San Diego Padres.

Prior completed one of the best college baseball seasons ever for a pitcher in 2001. He won seven national player of the year awards after a campaign in which he led USC to the College World Series. He went 15-1 with a 1.69 ERA and an NCAA-best 202 strikeouts in 138 2/3 innings pitched. With just 18 free passes, he had a remarkable 11.22:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. All of that led the Chicago Cubs to select the tall right-hander with the second overall pick in the 2001 MLB First-Year Player Draft.

The Columbia, S.C., native played for his hometown Gamecocks and was a dominant right-handed pitcher for four years. Bouknight set school records in innings pitched (482), strikeouts (457), victories (45) and starts (57). He won the Golden Spikes Award as a junior after posting a 2.81 ERA and leading the nation with 17 wins.

Jennings had an incredible two-way career at Baylor, and he capped it off with an award-winning junior campaign in 1999. On the hill, he tied a school record with 13 wins and set a new mark for strikeouts with 172. Meanwhile, in the batter's box, he hit .382 with 17 home runs (fourth-most ever at the time) and 68 RBIs (third-most). All those numbers earned him his second straight Big 12 Player of the Year Award. He's the Baylor career strikeout leader (377), while also having the highest career slugging percentage (.615), and the Colorado Rockies selected him as a pitcher with the 16th overall pick in the 1999 Draft. He went on to win Rookie of the Year in 2002.

Miami had a dominant force at third base for three seasons, but it was Burrell's junior season in 1998 that may have been his poorest. Injuries derailed part of his season, but Burrell still capped his college career with with a .442 batting average and an .888 slugging percentage, which both rank among the top 10 in college baseball history. Burrell was also named the 1996 College World Series Most Valuable Player. He was the first overall pick in the 1998 MLB First-Year Player Draft by the Philadelphia Phillies and has been a regular for them since 2000. Burrell is perhaps the best active player never to make an All-Star team, this despite consistently compiling 30-home run seasons and high on-base percentages.

J.D. Drew had an astounding 1997 at Florida State. He hit .455 and is one of only three college players to have 100 hits, 100 RBIs and 100 runs scored in a season. Drew was also the first player in college baseball history to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a single season. He swept all of the major collegiate awards before the Phillies made him the No. 2 pick in that summer's MLB First-Year Player Draft. Controversy has followed Drew since he left Tallahassee, though, starting with his unwillingness to sign with the Phillies before he eventually signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. Still, there has been no denying the right fielder's talent. He is one of the most patient hitters in baseball and is also a graceful fielder. Drew finally made his first All-Star team in 2008 where he was named the MVP in the American League's 4-3, extra-inning win.

The long-tall Lee seemed like the second coming of Will Clark when he burst on the scene at San Diego State. He won the Golden Spikes Award after hitting .355 for the Aztecs in 1996. Later that summer, he hit .382 for the U.S. Olympic Team in Atlanta. Lee was the second overall pick by the Minnesota Twins but signed his first contract for a record $10 million bonus with the Arizona Diamondbacks after the Twins did not offer Lee a contract within 15 days of the June 4 draft, making Lee a free agent. He finished third in Rookie of the Year voting after hitting 22 home runs in 1998 for the expansion D-Backs, but was unable to build on that early success in a career that ended in 2006.

Mark Kotsay was a member of the NCAA Champion Titans in the year he won the Golden Spikes Award. He was a closer as well as center fielder for Cal State-Fullerton and recorded the final five outs to clinch the championship. <i>Baseball America</i> selected Kotsay as its Player of the Decade for the 1990s. He was a .404 career hitter at Fullerton and was named College World Series Most Outstanding Player in 1995. The Marlins made Kotsay the ninth overall pick in the 1996 MLB Draft, and Kotsay has had a successful career -- marked by strong defense in center field -- for four different teams.

Jason Varitek helped lead the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets to the College World Series championship game in 1994, his senior season in Atlanta and the year he won the Golden Spikes Award. He played on a Tech team that also boasted future first-round picks and future professional teammates Nomar Garciaparra and Jay Payton. Tek remains the only Yellow Jacket baseball player to have his number (33) retired. For the second straight year, Varitek was picked in the first round of the MLB Draft in 1994, this time by the Seattle Mariners. Three years later, he was involved in a trade deadline swap to the Boston Red Sox where his career flourished. Varitek was an integral member of the 2004 and 2007 Red Sox World Series championship teams and was named team captain in 2005.

Dreifort was a power pitcher and designated hitter for the storied Shockers baseball program. After the Los Angeles Dodgers drafted him second overall in the 1993 MLB Draft, he was one of the rare players to go directly from college to the Majors but found little immediate success there. Arm problems and ineffectiveness stymied Dreifort's career but not before his potential and glimpses of brilliance earned him a five-year, $55 million contract from the Dodgers in 2001. Injuries kept Dreifort from pitching in the Majors in three of the five years of the deal, and he retired in February 2006.

1992 was a big year for Phil Nevin. He was named Most Outstanding Player of the 1992 College World Series, where his Cal State-Fullerton Titans finished second. Nevin was selected first overall in the MLB Draft by the Houston Astros that June, as well. Nevin then played in the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics for Team USA. The corner infielder and outfielder didn't quite live up to his top billing as a Major Leaguer, but he had a quietly impressive 12-year career for seven teams. After a slow start as a pro, Nevin finally flourished as a San Diego Padre in 1998 for whom he hit 24 home runs. He followed up those seasons with 31- and 41-homer campaigns and finished his career with 208 blasts.

Mike Kelly put together one of the best three-year records in the history of Arizona State baseball. He was a career .350 hitter with 197 runs scored, 46 doubles, 194 RBIs and 46 home runs. The 46 home runs are second in ASU career history, behind fellow Golden Spikes Award winner Bob Horner. He was a three-time All-American as a Sun Devil and also won 1990 Pac-10 and various national player of the year awards. Kelly was the second overall selection in the 1991 MLB Draft by the Atlanta Braves and went on to play parts of six seasons in the Major Leagues with four different teams, though never living up to the standard he set in his exquisite amateur career.

A Miami native, Fernandez is the only Golden Spikes Award winner who didn't win the award as a player at a four-year college. Fernandez had transferred from the University of Miami to be eligible for the MLB Draft sooner. The plan worked, as Fernandez was selected fourth overall by the Chicago White Sox in the 1990 Draft and made his debut in August of that year. Fernandez was an effective Major Leaguer with the White Sox and his hometown Florida Marlins for 10 seasons, with whom he won a World Series in 1997. But arm surgery derailed Fernandez's entire 1998 season, and the righty would appear in just 32 more games before retiring at the still-young age of 30.

McDonald went from Baton Rouge prep star to baseball and basketball player at his hometown LSU. At 6-foot-7, McDonald used his leverage to dominate at the collegiate level. He twice led Skip Bertman's Tigers to the College World Series, and won the Golden Spikes Award after winning 14 games and fanning an SEC record 202 batters in 1989. The previous summer, he led Team USA to the gold medal at the Seoul Summer Olympics, pitching complete-game victories against Puerto Rico and Korea. He went on to be the first overall pick in the MLB Draft by the Baltimore Orioles and was the second player from the 1989 draft class to make the Majors. McDonald had an injury-plagued but effective career with Baltimore and Milwaukee, one that saw him finish with a 3.94 ERA, far better than the league average in an age when hitting dominated.

To say Robin Ventura's college career in Stillwater was loud would be an understatement. He was a three-time All-American for the Cowboys, and he set an NCAA record by hitting safely in 58 consecutive games (a record since surpassed). Ventura led OSU to the 1987 College World Series where the Pokes lost to Stanford in a game in which Ventura had four hits, including two doubles. He ended his college career with a .428 batting average and 302 RBIs. Ventura then batted .409 en route to a gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics. He is a member of the College Baseball Hall of Fame. Ventura also had a 16-year Major League career where he was best known for his superb defense at third base. Ventura collected six Gold Gloves at third and also smacked 294 career home runs.

Abbott led the Wolverines to two Big Ten titles during his time in Ann Arbor and still found time to earn a gold medal in the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics. He earned Big Ten Male Athlete of the Year honors for his international exploits in the center of the diamond. Abbott, born without a right hand, was determined to be known for his pitching above and beyond his ability to overcome a disability. The California Angels drafted Abbott eighth overall in 1988, and he was in the bigs a year later. Abbott finished third in the Cy Young voting in 1991 after winning 18 games with a 2.89 ERA. Two years later, he was traded to the New York Yankees, and memorably tossed a no-hitter against the Cleveland Indians on September 4, 1993. Abbott's career, though, peaked early, and only once after the age of 24 did he post a sub-4.00 ERA.

Twenty wins by Mike Loynd in 1986 tied an NCAA record and helped the Florida State hurler win the Golden Spikes Award. Though he was most responsible for Florida State's run to the College World Series, Loynd was just a seventh-round pick by the Rangers. Still, he made it to the big leagues after just five Minor League starts. Loynd hung around as a player until 1994, but never made it back to the Majors after a 1-5 record for the Rangers in 1987.

Clark's sweet swing helped lift the Bulldogs to the College World Series, where Clark was named to the all-tournament team. Will "The Thrill" then took his act to San Francisco after the Giants picked him second overall in the 1985 draft. Clark went on to be a six-time All-Star as he earned a reputation as a fluid batter who mixed contact and patience in equal measures. Clark reached the peak of his powers in 1989 when he led the Giants to the World Series. He won the NLCS MVP and finished second in the season National League MVP race, the third of four times he placed in the top five. He finished his career with 284 home runs and a .303 lifetime batting average. He was also a member of the 1984 Olympic Team.

Swift center fielder Oddibe McDowell went directly from the Arizona State outfield to the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. A year later, he was in the big leagues with the Texas Rangers who had made McDowell their first-round pick the summer before. In that rookie season, which was good enough for McDowell to finish fourth in the Rookie of the Year voting, McDowell became the first Ranger to ever hit for the cycle when he did it on July 23. McDowell stole at least 24 bases in each of his first five Major League seasons and finished his career with 169 thefts.

Dave Magadan was a professional hitter even when he was an amateur. He hit .525 in his award-winning season with the Crimson Tide, which was good enough to lead the NCAA and set an SEC record. Magadan led Alabama to the championship game of the College World Series that season before losing, and his .439 career college batting average is an SEC record. Magadan then played for seven teams in 16 seasons, where his patient approach was ahead of its time. Though he only hit 42 home runs in more than 4,000 at bats, his lifetime .390 OBP made him a viable hitter deep into his 30s.

Schmidt was a standout shortstop for the Privateers, good enough to be selected second overall in the 1982 MLB First-Year Player Draft. He spent parts of five seasons in the Minor Leagues, twice reaching Double-A. After retiring from baseball, Schmidt has had a very successful career as head baseball coach at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisc., where he has won more than 600 games and a compiled a winning percentage of better than .700.

Mike Fuentes became the first Florida State Seminole to win the Golden Spikes Award, after a sensational year as an outfielder in Tallahassee. Like the two men before him, he too was selected by the Montreal Expos and found himself behind Andre Dawson in the center field depth chart for the Expos. Though Fuentes played in just nine Major League games, he swatted 150 career Minor League homers.

The Montreal Expos drafted the Golden Spikes Award winner for the second straight year when they took Terry Francona at the 22nd pick of the first round. Francona was known for his exceptional athletic ability, but a series of injuries, especially to his knees, prevented Francona from ever achieving his immense potential. "Tito" is now better known as the man who managed Michael Jordan during his brief foray into professional baseball and more recently as the two-time World Champion skipper of the Boston Red Sox.

After Tim Wallach became the second Golden Spikes Award winner in 1979, he went on to a 17-year Major League career that included five All-Star appearances, three Gold Gloves and two Silver Sluggers at third base. Wallach spent most of his career as the anchor at third base for the Montreal Expos who drafted him 10th overall in 1979 and for whom he played 13 seasons.

Horner set a then-NCAA record with 58 home runs during his career Arizona State and was named MVP of the 1977 College World Series. Horner was drafted first overall out of ASU by the Atlanta Braves and became the rare player to go directly to the Major Leagues where he homered off of Bert Blyleven in his first game. Bob Horner had four home runs in one game on July 6, 1986, one of only 15 players to ever accomplish the feat.